Now that the fabric of the building had been restored to its former glory, it was the turn of the audio infrastructure to receive a similar overhaul in order to bring the systems up to the high standards demanded by today's audiences. Autograph Sales & Installations were awarded the contract to design and supply a new loudspeaker system, amplifiers, mixing console, cabling and ancillary items. Autograph opted for the new HALO-C compact line array system from EM Acoustics - the same system that was recently installed in London's Royal Albert Hall.
According to Autograph's project manager Chris Austin, HALO-C offered a number of advantages for this installation. "Like most rooms originally designed to deliver sound to a large audience without amplification, The Forum presented real challenges when designing and installing a sound reinforcement system," he said.
"Fortunately we've worked in numerous locations of this kind previously, and we found HALO-C to be the perfect choice for the project, and not just because of its outstanding acoustic performance - its small size allows a powerful system to be very unobtrusive, and its accuracy allowed us to achieve a very tightly-defined coverage right across the stalls. It is also remarkably cost-effective, as up to sixteen cabinets can be powered from a single amplifier." Front-fill is provided by EM Acoustics EMS-51s which are attached to the stage lip via custom brackets from Autograph.
The system is powered by Lab.gruppen PLM amplifiers running across Dante with an SD9 digital console from DiGiCo at FOH. Austin added that the Dante digital network also contributed to keeping costs down as it significantly reduced the need for expensive copper cabling.
He continued, "'After a tender process to narrow it down to two possible suppliers, we went in to demo the full system during a weekend. We later went back to try out some alternative subwoofer locations because the room is extremely absorptive of low frequencies. We eventually settled on a centrally-located end-fired setup which will be further refined in due course, as we believe we can further improve the low-frequency coverage.
"The new system provides seamless coverage of the stalls as specified, but we also designed-in a future fit option for the balcony. During commissioning we brought in additional EM Halo-Compact loudspeakers to create pre-sets for an expanded system, so extra modules can be easily integrated with the installed system if necessary, without the need for re-tuning. We put a lot of effort into design and engineering in order to re-use as much of the existing equipment as we could, carefully combining it with the new elements to produce a hi-spec, fully integrated system that suits the venue and its intended applications perfectly."
(Jim Evans)
